Game-board.



N0. 64%),401. Patented Jan. 2, I900. H. A. MINASSIAN 81. L. WI. DARLING.

GAME BOARD.

(Application filed July 6, 1897. (N 0 NI 0 d el.)

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l-IARRY A. frllNASSlAN AND LOREN M. DARLING, OF DES MOINES, IOYVA.

GAlVl E -BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,401, dated January 2, 1900.

Application filed July 6, 1897, Serial No 643,682. (No model.)

To (l/ZZ whom 2 may concern.-

Be it known that we, HARRY A. MINASSIAN and LOREN M. DARLING, citizens of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Folk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Game-Board, La Trocha, of which the following is a specification.

Our object is to provide an improved gameboard that is simple, inexpensive, durable, and adapted for deflecting disks at various angles and specially adapted to deflect disks at acute angles relative to the lines in which disks may be forced or shot forward by the impact of a players finger.

Our invention consists in certain details in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the game-board, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows in perspective the complete board. Fig. 2 shows a central transverse section of the same.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the reference-numeral 10 is used to indicate the flat central portion of the board termed the field. This field is inclosed by the side pieces 11, which project a considerable distance above the surface of the field, and at the opposite sides of the field are the ditches 12. At the corners of the field We have provided pits or pockets 13, into which the disks or men may enter one at a time. Ne have provided two base-lines 1%, extending longitudinally of the field at the same distance from the edges thereof. Adjacent to each of these base-lines we have placed the stops or cushions 15, preferably four in number and located at equidistant points on each side. Along the central longitudinal line we have placed two similar stops or cushions 16, located at points equidistant laterally between the pairs of stops or cushions adjacent to the ends of the field, We have also provided a series of marks or circles 17 within the field to designate stops, upon which are to be placed the disks or men with which the game is played, The said stops or cushions are composed of small solid four-sided fiat-faced blocks 18, fixed to the field by means of the pin 19 and entirely inclosed by means of a resilient rubber cover 20, which is also angular and which is so constituted as to cause a disk or man when shot against it to rebound with considerable force. "We also preferably place along the ends of the field rubber cushions 21, which also serve to rebound the disks or men when they are forced against them. The disks or men used to playa game are preferably flat on their upper and lower surfaces, circular in form, and rounded at their edges.

As a sample of the use to which our gameboard may be put we will cite the rules of a game which we have devised to be played with our improved board.

\Ve have arbitrarily termed the game La Trocha, and it may be played by two, three, or four persons. In the following instance We will assume that the game is to be played by two persons. \Ve first position a number of disks or men all of the uniform color upon the marks or circles 17 of the field. Each player is then given a disk, each having its own individual color, but different from the color of the disks or men in the field. It is obvious the circles 17 are advantageous, but may be dispensed with whenever desired.

We decide which of the opponents is to shoot first by the following test: Each player or opponent is given the opportunity to shoot his diskinto the pits or pockets 13 on the opposite side of the board and the one making the nearest approach thereto is given the advantage of first shot. He is then accorded the privilege of an attempt to knock one or more of the disks or men on the field into either one of the ditches or the pits or pockets, and this must be accomplished by first striking one of the stops or cushions with his disk before the said disk strikes the disks or men on the field.

\Vhen a player makes two successful shots consecutively, he is then entitled to a privilege shot-that is, he may shoot his disk at one or more of the disks or men of the field without first striking a stop or cushion, and if successful at thathe may again start as before. The players alternate in turn, and each player picks up the disks or men of the field as fast as they are deposited in the ditch or pit by him. Those deposited in the pits or pockets may be given a greater value than those deposited in the ditches. hen. the

board is cleared, the number and value of the disks each player holds are counted and the one having the greater value is designated the WlHDeI.

If more than two persons play the game, the boundary-lines between the field allowed each player upon which to place his disk when shooting are designated by the marks 23. It is obvious, however, that an indefinite number of games may be played by the use of this board, and We do not desire to be understood as limiting ourselves to the use of this board in the playing of any particular game.

It is obvious that the deflection of a disk from a straight line, such as the fiat and extended straight side of one of the pegs, is very materially different from the deflection from the continuous curved periphery of a round peg, and that consequently the multiplicity of angles at which a disk may be deflected from a peg is greatly increased by the use of pegs having extended straight flat sides, and the field for testing the skill of a player is accordingly increased by such fiat four-sided pegs and the interest in a game greatly enhanced.

We are aware three-sided fiat-faced stops have been used; but it is obvious that only one of the three faces of a three-sided stop could be placed parallel with any one of the four sides or edges of the board, and in the relative positions of all the stops on our board only one face of each stop could be placedin parallel position to one face only of each other stop, while each of the four faces of our total number of stops is parallel with two of the sides or edges of the board and all of the faces of all the stops are in right-angled positions relative to each other and to the edges of the board, so that the chances of deflecting disks at a greater number of angles relative to the stops and multiplying the number of points from which disks may be shot and the lines in which the disks may be deflected from the stops is an important desideratum in the art to which our invention pertains.

IIaving thus described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is

1. An improved game-board comprising a board or field having a fiat smooth top surface, grooves or ditches along two of its parallel edges, a rim around its four edges, pits or pockets at the corners, base-lines extending parallel with the ditches at some space therefrom, four-sided fiatfaced cushioned blocks or stops fixed on top of the board on said base-lines and at regular distances apart and corresponding cushioned stops fixed on top of the board in a line midway said baselines, all arranged and combined as shown and described for the purposes stated.

2. An improved ga1ne-board comprising a board or field having a fiat smooth top surface, grooves or ditches along two of its parallel edges, a rim around its four edges, pits or pockets at the corners, base-lines extending parallel with the ditches at some space therefrom, four-sided flat -faced cushioned blocks or stops having extended straight faces fixed on top of the board on said base-lines and at regular distances apart and corresponding cushioned stops fixed on top of the board in a line midway said base-lines, and marks or circles formed on top of the board to indicate where movable disks are to be placed relative to said stops, all arranged and combined as shown and described for the purposes stated.

HARRY A. MINASSIAN. LOREN M. DARLING.

lVitnesses:

J. A. BRAMHALL, THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

